An Epitaph for the Mother of Twins

Anthologia Palatina 7.465, attributed to Heraclitus  The dirt on this grave is freshly dug,   And on the tombstone’s face Partially withered garlands of leaves   Are shaken by the wind. O passerby, let us make out   The letters on the stone, And see what person’s baneful bones   It claims that it is covering. “Stranger, my name is Aretemias,   And Cnidus was my homeland; I came to Euphron’s marriage bed,   And was not ignorant of birth-pains. I bore twin children, and left one behind   As a guide for my husband’s old age- The other I have borne away with me,   A reminder of my spouse.”  Ἁ κόνις ἀρτίσκαπτος, ἐπὶ στάλας δὲ μετώπων   σείονται φύλλων ἡμιθαλεῖς στέφανοι· γράμμα διακρίναντες, ὁδοιπόρε, πέτρον ἴδωμεν,   λυγρὰ περιστέλλειν ὀστέα φατὶ τίνος. „Ξεῖν’, Ἀρετημιάς εἰμι· πάτρα Κνίδος· Εὔφρονος ἦλθον   εἰς λέχος· ὠδίνων οὐκ ἄμορος γενόμαν· δισσὰ δ’ ὁμοῦ τίκτουσα τὸ μὲν λίπον ἀνδρὶ ποδηγὸν   γήρως, ἓν δ’ ἀπάγω μναμόσυνον πόσιος.“

Twins Clara and Aelbert de Bray, Salomon de Bray, 1646